Telford and Douglass, was occupied by detailing a new design, (13) engraven by Basire, on Plate xxvii., in the folio of Illustrations. Its principal characteristic was an enlargement in the centre, into a sexangular form of more than twice its ordinary breadth, having in the middle an octagonal basin, spacious enough for a ship to lie in, without touching a Drawbridge constructed in each side; which Drawbridges were to be 30 feet wide, and so contrived, that either should be sufficient for a temporary passage; and the vessel having passed through one, it was to be let down and fixed, before the other was opened. The edifice itself was to be of granite, on a rise of an inch in a yard, and to have eight segmental arches, with the Drawbridge-passage in the centre, guarded by four low round towers for the machinery: the estimate was £210,411.

"The 'Appendix,' No. 17, pages 83-85, contains an additional paper from Mr. Wilson, giving a farther account of his design, and of a model which he had constructed of it; and concluding with an estimate of £163,496 for the whole work.

"An interval of several years now occurs before we meet with any farther proceedings concerning the erection of a New London Bridge; which I shall fill up with some notices of the engraved views of the present edifice, and a few memoranda of the other modern Bridges built over the Thames. The prospects of this part of London are extremely numerous; since it has not only frequently been de

lineated in separate prints, but is also to be found in almost every volume which treats of our metropolitan history. Perhaps some of the best representations are those drawn by Joseph Farrington, R. A., about the latter end of the last century, and engraven by F. C. Stadler to imitate the originals. One of these is a large folio, and the other will be found in Boydell's History of the River Thames,' London, 1794, folio, volume ii., plate 16, page 226. A small neat print of London Bridge is also contained in Samuel Ireland's 'Picturesque Views of the River Thames,' London, 1792, octavo, volume ii., plate 24, page 221 : but etchings of an infinitely superior class, by William Bernard Cooke, are in his beautiful work of The Thames,' London, 1811, octavo, volume ii., plates 16 and 18. Two of the most recent views of this edifice were published in Charles Heath's Views of London,' 1825, octavo, both taken on the Eastern side, by W. Westall and P. Dewint. A perspective elevation of the Bridge, shewing the obliquity of its arches, and a curious section of the River bed, also on the Eastern side, surveyed by Mr. Ralph Dodd, is inserted in the folio volume of Plans, &c., belonging to the Third Report of the Port of London Committee,' Plate vii.: and the same Engineer has likewise given a large and interesting print of the South Pier of the Great Arch of London Bridge, exhibiting the two chasms in it, the iron clamps which hold it together, and a section of the water-way. See Plate vi. of the same volume, and the Report itself, Appendix, B. 1., page 52.* A

similar representation was furnished by Mr. Mylne. and is marked “Drawing, c.' on Plate i. of the same illustrations: it consists of a profile through the middle of the Great Arch, taken at still low-water in 1767, and shows the excavations above and below Bridge, made by the rushing of the current.The remainder of this Plate is occupied by Tables of Soundings, Measurements, &c. at various points of the River near this place; and A Section of the Locks and construction of the Piers of London Bridge as ascertained in taking up of the Pier under the Great Arch in 1762. See Drawing A. Of this I have already given several particulars, and in Mr. Mylne's paper belonging to it, printed in the Third Report,' Appendix, a 1., page 26, he has a curious account of taking up the Piers, and its consequent effects. He was at that time occupied in erecting Blackfriars Bridge, and a lighterman, named Parsons, employed- under him, having contracted for removing the Pier, consulted him as to the best means of doing so. Having examined the building, he advised his procuring some powerful screws, used in raising the heavy wheels of the Water-works, which were fastened to the heads of the soundest and securest piles. They first drew out a few from the outer row, and then some of the 'original in the interior, when all the stone-work which was worth preserving being removed, and the remainder thrown into the River, the cross-ties of timber and iron were loosened, and the whole Pier soon fell into rains. It was immediately carried

1

away by the impetuosity of the fall; for the other

11

piles being removed, the middle of the work was borne off so suddenly as scarcely to allow of its construction being examined and measured. The Arch being thus opened, the danger at first anticipated by Mr. Mylne soon followed; for the accumulated volume of water drawn from all the other arches acted so violently upon the River bed, as greatly to increase the depth and force of the tide; whilst the corrosion spreading to the old Piers of the new Arch, attacked the stability of the Sterlings beneath them: these defences being only 6 feet broad under the haunches of the Arch, and so close to the Piers, that there was neither room to make any substantial repairs, nor sufficient space for a pile-engine to act. It was in this difficulty that Mr. Smeaton advised the City-Gates to be thrown into the River, for transferring the deep water to the lower side of the Bridge; an idea which he seems to have taken from Henri Gautier's statement concerning the Bridge of St. Esprit. Mr. Mylne remarks, however, that the whole of this advice not being followed, a farther quantity of 2000 tons of rubble-stone was recommended for the construction of a new bed. And now, to come back to my starting-place, and conclude my notices of views of this edifice, let me remark that if you would see it in all its interest, with the water, rushing through its Locks, and the building itself surmounted and bounded by the Monument and the Spire of St. Magnus' Church, then the very spot for such a pros